There’s plenty of weird stuff coming out from Japan. One of my good friends is slightly obsessed with Hatsune Miku, the “female voice” of the Character Vocal Series, a computer program that according to Wikipedia, synthesizes singing in Japanese! Imagine that, singing by just typing in lyrics and melody.

Check out the end result in the video below. For those of you looking for Hatsune Miku stuff, there are even games and other forms of merchandise available, check it out over here.

A chance encounter with a DVD collection led me to of all things, a Mazinger-Z parody in the form of the super-cute Panda-Z. The anime shorts don’t really make sense, but those bunch of robot Pandas make for a quick afternoon entertainment:

Anyways, the Panda-Z DVD collection comes with a limited edition Panda-Z figurine, and the whole thing is priced at just USD 11.90! Check it out over here.

Despite the Sony Playstation 3 being a region-free device when it comes to games (Asian consoles can play US Region games, and vice-versa), I noticed that there are gamers who purchase only Region 1 (US Region) titles despite the availability of cheaper, Region 3 (Asian Region) titles.

Some of the reasons cited are the availability of manuals in full colour (as opposed to black & white for Asian Region games) and more importantly, the availability of DLCs on the US PSN.

All these of course bring a premium to the pricing of Region 1 titles, and more often than not, you’ll have to pay a good RM 20 – RM 30 more for a particular title. As for me, I would go for the cheaper option anytime.

I have a copy of Terminator Salvation (Region 1), and the manual is in black and white. So it’s not always the case where you’ll get a full-colour manual with your R1 game. The Asian market is pretty much mature and there shouldn’t be a problem getting DLCs, and it’s only a matter of time before a particular DLC becomes availabl after its launch on the US PSN.

So what about you? Has the economic situation forced you to evaluate your options when it comes to buying games? Does a game’s Region code matter for you (I’m asking PS3 owners on this, for Xbox 360 owners, of course it does! Blame Microsoft!)?

Anyways, the austerity drive continues this month, and I’ve only bought one game, a secondhand copy of Killzone 2 for just RM 90 (about USD 25). My brother has been raking up the kills on this one, spending a good 6 hours on this game alone on Sunday.

Hmm, maybe I should pay a visit to Helghast, or whatever that forsaken place is called, one of these days.

I went for a 2-day holiday at Port Dickson over the weekend. Since it’s the onset of the month of Ramadan, there were not many tourists to this beach town. The Ramadan bazaar, although smaller to what I’m used to in KL attracted a lot of locals, and if you are in the vicinity, head over to the PD Walk area (near The Store) for some buka puasa treats.

I wasn’t crazy about the hotel beach, and instead, the highlight of the trip was the hike through the Tanjung Tuan Forest Reserve to reach Malaysia’s oldest lighthouse, the Cape Rachado Lighthouse (a.k.a Rumah Api Tanjung Tuan).

The lighthouse complex itself is off-limits to visitors (you are free to roam the perimeter, which you can get some nice shots of the ocean), and this is probably due to the really high-tech looking radar next to the lighthouse.

According to my travel companions, no trip to the state of Negeri Sembilan (where Port Dickson is located) is complete without a meal of Hakka Mee, a dish in which the state capital, Seremban, is well-known for.

Anyways, to cut the long story shot, I had the most overrated and plain tasting bowl of Hakka Mee at a supposedly great Hakka Mee place called Tow Kee. You have to wait your turn here, any attempt to get their attention to make your order known will be met with indifference.

Your order will be taken when it’s your turn (probably 20 – 25 minutes after you have sat down) and the food will only arrive some 15-20 minutes after your order has been placed. The lady boss (who doubles up as the sole chef, and frown-in-chief) has one mean laser stare, you don’t want to be messing with her.

Lose the attitude woman, cause your food isn’t stellar. I prefer the Hakka mee stall in one of the alleyways in KL’s Chinatown area (Petaling Street), or the one served at Lau Fong, Teluk Intan.

I posted up what some people might consider to be really sexy this morning, and some of you might want it as a wallpaper on your desktop. So here you go, the high-resolution files (1920 * 1080) for the Nissan GT-R Spec V racer car, as featured in the upcoming Need for Speed: Shift for both the Xbox 360 and PS3.

WordTrix for the iPhone is one very addictive word game that (this might sound a little cliched), easy to learn but difficult to master. The game borrows elements from Tetris liberally, whereby letters drop down in the form of blocks, and you are supposed to form words with this.

Unlike chess where you can see the entire battlefield and plot your moves, you can only see the next letter that is about to drop. Adding to the challenge is a heavy element of luck in the game, whereby sometimes the letter that you want won’t come along even after a minute of waiting.

The game is also pretty stingy when it comes to dropping vowels. While it’s ideal to form words that are 4 letters or more in length (either vertically or horizontally, for more points and multipliers), there’s the problem of peaking too early in the game as you might find yourself increasing in levels too soon.

As mentioned earlier, like Tetris, the blocks will drop faster and it will be a frantic experience to remember what you have and what words you want to form.

To top off the experience, the game can submit your score to a global scoreboard, and you can even view your standing by country. As of the time of this review, I’m currently #2 in Malaysia.

So be sure to check out the game over here as it’s available for free over at the iTunes Store. That’s a lot of game for a free game, so what are you waiting for, download it now!

PlayStation 3 coverage continues here on Nine Over Ten 9/10. This morning, BBC News’ website mistakenly mentioned that the Fantastic Four is from DC Comics when describing the new Digital Reader coming for the PSP. The mistake has since been corrected :P.

Anyways, check out what looks to be the first PlayStation 3 Slim bundle, the PlayStation 3 Slim Console – Gundam 30th Anniversary Box and it comes with a box that looks like one of those Gundam model kit boxes. It even has the Bandai logo on it.

Scheduled for a September 09 release, preorders for this model kit, I mean, PlayStation 3 Slim bundle will be opening soon at Play-Asia. So keep an eye out for it, or better still, bookmark this link over here.

Yes you can! With the release of the new slim PS3 in September, the current PS3 will see a price reduction to USD 299 as well. The only problem is, Sony Malaysia’s pricing doesn’t reflect this, so only time will tell.

Check out Kaz Hirai’s announcement for the new slim PS3 below:

Gamespy has pictures of the new console (check it out here), but one would think that as a major video games site, why are they shooting pictures with what looks to be a camera phone. In any case, I don’t really like the matte surface, or the new fonts denoting PS3. And it still looks like a toaster oven, or a sandwich maker.

Here’s a bit of trivia for you in the morning, what’s the #1 board game for the iPhone in the Netherlands and Denmark? Well, it’s a game from Kayxo called Kolonists. Now you to get to try it out for free with the release of Kolonist Lite.

The following is a summary of the game:

Kolonists is a game of strategy, construction and politics in the ancient Roman Empire for 3 to 4 players. Players will be able to build, gather resources, trade and even use their Clan’s senatorial connections to turn the local barbarian tribes against their opponents!

The objective is to get the influence needed in order to become Governor of Kayxo Island, and earn Glory for Ages! Kolonists features top-notch original art, great music and an addictive game-play that will keep players hooked to their iPhone / iPod Touch for hours!

The Lite version has all the gameplay from the Paid Version, but with a few limitations (only six influences to win or lose the game, less player customization and lack of career mode).

In the meantime, the people at Kayxo are also busy with the last stage of production for the upcoming new version of Kolonists, featuring LAN Multiplayer support.